Medha's Story Corner - The Child's Secret Last Part - Page 16 - Page 9

PART 4

The sun shone brightly on the world. The birds twittered and chirped. A pleasant wind blew. In general, the world smiled.

But this atmosphere had no soothing effect on Purvi. As she stirred her morning cup of tea, her mind ran over the case yet again. She had not slept well, being haunted constantly by images of the girl with the package. There were so many unanswered questions. What was the girl doing alone at that late hour? What did the package contain? Why was the girl so frightened? Why did she run away? Where did she go?

Lost in her musings, she drank her tea. Just then, the doorbell rang.

Purvi glanced at the wall clock. "Subah-subah 6.30 baje kaun aa gaya?" she thought aloud and walked to the door.

There was no one outside! Purvi glanced here and there, but saw not a soul. She was about to close the door, when her eyes fell on a white envelope on the floor. She bent down and picked it up. There was no address on the envelope. There was a coarse piece of paper inside. On it was written,

"Bahut khoob investigation ki hai tum logon ne. But tumhe ye bata du ki Fahid sabse aage hota hai. Tum na kabhi mujhe pakad paoge na un bacchon ko dhoond paoge. Tum logon ne agar zyada hoshiyari ki to Fahid tum CID officers ko bhi kaid kar dalega."

Purvi was shocked. An open challenge and a warning too! Within a few minutes, she was in the driving seat of her car and off at full speed towards the Bureau. On reaching, she thrust the envelope into Abhijeet's hand. He had a similar reaction after he looked through its contents.

"Yeh kya hai!" he exclaimed, "Tumhe kaha mila?"

"Sir, aaj subah hi koi yeh lifafa mere ghar ke bahar chhod kar gaya. Main turant Bureau chali aayi," Purvi said. "Us Fahid ki itni himmat ki voh hame chunauti de!"

"Purvi, tum daro mat. Is Fahid tak toh ham pahunch hi jayenge!" ACP said confidently as he walked into the Bureau.

"Sir, par kaise?" Rajat entered the Bureau.

"Voh Gorai ka farmhouse hai na. Usi mein sab raaz chupa hai. Abhi vaha chalte hai," ACP replied.

Abhijeet, Daya, Rajat and Purvi drove into the farmhouse an hour later. It seemed deserted. They got off and started looking all around the property. Purvi and Abhijeet went into the house while Rajat and Daya enquired about the property from passers-by. A little while later, Purvi called all the others in.

She was in a bedroom and was pointing towards a trap-door that she had uncovered while searching the floor tiles. The four lifted the rather heavy metal door up together. There hung a strong rope ladder. They descended and looked around the cellar.

As they looked around, Rajat spotted a young boy, evidently ill-treated, propped weakly against a wall in the corner. There were three more children, one boy and two girls, seated in a similar fashion.

The officers rushed to each of them in turn.

"Purvi aur Rajat, tum log inn bacchon ko Bureau le jao aur unhe kuch khilao. Becharo ki halat theek nahi hai," Abhijeet said, taking matters into his hands.

"Sir," the two left with the four children.

Meanwhile, Abhijeet and Daya continued their search. The cellar proved to be a fairly large one with several rooms branching out from each other. As they explored each one, they were shocked. The rooms housed bundles of explosives!

"Itne saare bombs!" Daya exclaimed.

"Aur yeh dekho. Itna saara brown packaging paper. Tumhe yaad hain, Purvi ne kaha tha ke us ladki ke haatho mein brown paper ka ek package tha," Abhijeet said.

"Aur usne yeh bhi kaha tha ke uss package se gun powder ki bu aa rahi thi. Uss bacchi ke haathon me zarur explosives ka packet hua hoga," Daya replied.

They walked back to the main hall, having investigated all the rooms. They glanced around the room once again. This time they saw lot of cheap bedding in another corner of the room.

"Un baki 20 bacchon ko bhi yahi par rakha gaya hoga!" Daya concluded.

Abhijeet was not listening. He was looking at something.

"Kya dekh rahe ho Abhijeet?" Daya asked.

"Yeh dekho!" Abhijeet exclaimed triumphantly, "Yeh dekho, in kagazon par ek address likha hai. Aur upar likha hai,

11/10/13 19:00 - Ant

Iska matlab yahi ho sakta hai ke yeh Fahid aaj 7 baje koi bada blast plan kar raha hai jisse saikadon logon ki jaan khatre me ho sakti hai."

"Agar aisa hai toh hamare paas zada vakt nahi hai. Sirf 2 ghante hain," Daya said.

TO BE CONTINUED...